The view from my office on Water Street gave a spectacular look at Manhattan Bridge spanning the East River. It was the type of view reserved for those who had tediously and painstakingly climbed the corporate ladder. I had been working at my dream job for the last two years, and had worked tirelessly to get there. This view was supposed to elicit a feeling of fulfilment and accomplishment. Yet, something inside me yearned for more – more adventure, more excitement, and a fresh perspective on the world.

By 2017, the climb to the top of that corporate ladder no longer had my interest. Instead, a more concerning subject had begun to occupy my curiosity, one with much more far reaching implications than the material world of lower Manhattan. And that was climate change. The more I read, the more I learned, and the more horrified I became. All the while, I was further consumed by feelings of guilt in that my vocation offered nothing to combat this looming catastrophe. I felt a burning desire to contribute, to be part of the solution rather than a passive observer sitting by, looking out this very window. 

And that burning desire eventually manifested in the form of a radical and ambitious plan. One that would change my life forever.

It went something like this: upend my comfortable life in New York, move to the remote west coast of Australia, become a professional scuba diver, and ultimately open the door to becoming an ocean explorer. If people weren’t calling me crazy, they were laughing, thinking this windswept idea of adventure was nothing more than a far-off dream. Flash forward to 2023, and this is now my reality. I’ll be upfront in saying that nothing about this journey has been easy. I’ve had to embrace a beginner’s mindset entirely – learning so much from scratch, being told I was doing it all wrong. I had to accept the meaning of true loneliness and solitude for what felt like the first time, throwing myself into a world filled with uncertainty, risk, danger and a handful of utter failures. But eventually, things started to click.